Do you still believe in heroes?
by shadowsontherun
Summary: Clint and Natasha have been sent to Budapest once again. However they didn't plan on nearly being blown up. The didn't plan on finding two warlords at war with each other - both racing to find something buried underneath the ancient city. It appears time is not on their side.
1. Chapter 1

**Do You Still Believe In Heroes? **

It was 2 am in Budapest and two SHIELD agents just experienced the worst mission disaster ever.

Their target city just blew up. What the hell?

"Natasha are you okay?" Clint shouted through the dust. He coughed as he leaned against a wall trying to get some idea of where his partner just went.

"The entire city just got leveled! How the hell do you think anyone is okay?" she shouted back furiously from beneath a pile of debris. He paused – well at least she doesn't make it very difficult to find her.

"Fine. I'll be more specific. Are you _dead_ woman?" he asked warily.

"Oh my god...NO!" she groaned. He was such a dork.

"Good. Stay put," he muttered as he tried to figure out how to get to her without having the entire building collapse in on them. It was a miracle it hasn't already.

"This is even worse than the first time we were here..." Natasha muttered as she leaned against the wall still stuck underneath all the rubble. She winced as she looked down at the bumps and scratches that covered her arms – those were going to leave some nasty bruises.

"Natasha...did you break anything...?" he asked suddenly.

"No, I just fell through the ceiling and miraculously survived without a scratc-" Natasha froze in her sarcastic reply as she feel a warm liquid start to trickle down her face and onto her hand.

It was a deep red colour that stained her palm. She slowly reached up to her forehead and tensed.

_That_ was a concussion waiting to happen.

"Why did you just stop talking Tasha...?" Clint asked slowly peering through the gap between all the fallen debris. Natasha continued to stare at the sudden red her hand was bathed in.

"Hey Clint...do you have a Band-Aid by any chance...?" Natasha asked warily. Clint froze.

"How big of a Band-Aid Tasha...?" he asked as the worry started creeping into his heart. Damn it just didn't matter how many times they go through this. She always scared the shit out of him when she started being cryptic.

"3 inches…?" she said hesitantly.

"I'm going to _murder_ you once I get you out," he grumbled as he started digging even faster.

"Ah...you better get in line with death. He likes me a bit too much," Natasha said with a sigh. She was trying to keep the exhaustion out of her voice but he knew her too well and caught on immediately.

"Don't you dare fall asleep Tasha!" Clint said warningly as he quickly looked around to see if he could use anything as leverage to remove the large beam of splintered wood blocking him from getting his partner out of this shitty situation.

"How am I supposed sleep with you continuously hollering at me?" she asked warily. She silently pinched herself just to make sure she wasn't drifting off anyway. He _would_ kill her if she did fall unconscious.

"You know...your sarcasm makes me worry even more Tasha," he said evenly.

"You'd worry either way Clint," she said quietly.

"I would worry less you didn't always _lie_ to me," he said gruffly. She tensed.

"I don't always lie to you! You know more truths about me than anyone else alive!" she said heatedly.

"How much of those things were on accident Tasha?" he asked staring at the physical wreckage between them.

"I don't tell people about my past on accident," she said narrowing her eyes. He paused as he took her heated words into consideration.

"Are you seeing black spots yet Tasha?" he asked calmly.

Natasha tensed. She was most definitely starting to lose chunks of her vision – but she would deny it until the end.

"No not yet," she said firmly.

"Liar," he said narrowing his eyes. She froze.

"How'd you know?" she asked disbelievingly. He was the only person in the world who could really read her. Why did that always scare her so much?

"Easy. Most people sound hesitant when they lie and confident when they're telling the truth. You do the exact opposite Tasha," he said with a shrug. She does a lot of things differently than normal people. Clint never accused her of being normal. None of them who were in this field were.

"This is why I've never had partners before..." she muttered under her breath. They knew too much. They cared too much. They _talked_ too much. But most importantly it hurt too much when they _left_. He could hear the slight dip in her mood as she trailed off.

"I don't care what other people say Tasha. I'm _honoured_ to be your first and hopefully only partner," he said quietly.

"There is a reason no one at SHIELD wanted to be partners with me Clint," she said staring at her hands. Today they were stained with her own blood. For years they were always stained with someone else's.

"Because they couldn't see the good in you Tasha. Just like they never saw mine," he said leaning his forehead against the beam in front of him. She laughed softly.

"I could see it from a mile away Clint. You may have an unhappy past – but you're dripping with good in you. The rest of the organization is just blind," she said quietly. He smiled gently – sometimes Natasha had an odd sweetness to her only he could appreciate.

"_Exactly_. The whole world is blind Tasha," he said softly. She was about to response when they both froze as they heard a group of heavy footsteps not too far away from their location.

Someone was here. Someone they likely didn't want to tangle with at the moment

"Clint..." she said warningly.

"No Tasha..." he said firmly.

"Clint you need to go," she said staring at the broken door through the gap in the debris.

"I'm not leaving Tasha!" he whispered furiously. Was she insane?

"At least you need to freaking hide!" she whispered back.

"If they're looking for something Tasha – they aren't going to miss you. They glance down through these cracks and you're dead Natasha! Don't you _get_ it?" he said furiously. She took a deep breath – they didn't have time to argue.

"Who is going to get me out if you get caught and dragged to god knows where?" she said ruthlessly using his emotions against him. Clint froze. He clenched his hands tightly into fists _– she was right. _

"_Damn_ you Natasha," he said before he gave her one last look that said no matter what happened he was going to get her out of here. Then he pulled away and dashed down a hall just as the door to the warehouse burst off its hinges and a massive group of armed men walked into the room.

"Fury I am going to _kill_ you for sending us into this mess…" she whispered loosely holding her gun between her knees. She wasn't going to go down without taking half of them with her.

That was her promise.

"Someone knew we were coming and disabled half the explosions in the eastern district. This place should be in flames – _where are they_?" a dark haired men demanded as he turned to look at his men.

"We don't know Dmitri. We never caught sight of the infiltrators," a blond haired man spoke up from the silent group in front of him.

Natasha silently snorted – that was my job you idiots.

"Oh yeah? You don't know?" Dmitri said dangerously advancing on the blond man across the room. They stared each other down, each looking like they were going to murder the other any second now.

"Then tell me why the _hell_ we found a SHIELD helicopter 3 miles outside of the city Felix!" he shouted in blond man's face. Felix narrowed his eyes.

"That wasn't my job. That was _their_ job. Why haven't _your_ men found them yet?" he said angrily. Dmitri had dark flames burning in his eyes – but he knew the pain in his ass was right.

"Search every corner of this place and every other building on this street. We are going to find these agents," Dmitri hissed before he spun around and stalked out of the building. Felix sighed and motioned for the men to start looking. Clint froze as the men spread out. Natasha took a deep breath and held her gun firmly – it was now or never.

They were seconds away from finding his partner.

Clint quickly shoved a round of bullets into his gun and steadied his hand.

He took a deep breath and shot the garbage bin across the street. The bullet ricocheted off the metal box and the bang resonated around the relatively silent street.

All the men inside the warehouse froze as they heard the telltale gunshot.

And then he ran for it.

Felix stared out the window at the brown haired man sprinting across the street.

"What are you idiots waiting for? Go after him!" Felix shouted at the men standing in front of him. They didn't need to be told twice.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Clint swore as he dashed around the corner with 20 pairs of footsteps chasing after him. He flipped out his cell phone and quickly dialed the one number he ever memorized in his entire life.

_Ring. Ring._

BEEP. No answer.

He frantically tried again.

_Ring. Ring. _

Click.

She picked up.

"Tasha are you okay?" he shouted in to his phone as he quickly glanced over his shoulder. He paled - they were gaining on him. _Shit_.

"How many times have I told you I _hate_ the word okay?" she said as she dragged herself out from beneath the wooden beam. Clint had already loosened the weight and done most of the work. She needed to get out and help him.

"How many times have I told you to _answer the damn question_?" he shot back angrily. She gaped at her phone as she frantically searched for something to momentarily stop the bleeding gash across her forehead.

"You're the one being chased by the fucking gorilla mafia!" she said as she looked down at her shirt – the only clean piece of cloth in sight. She swore. She _liked_ this outfit.

RIP!

"Be grateful – at least I'm not compromised yet," he said as he dashed around another corner and ran across the street. It was cluttered with broken overturn cars and buses. He didn't see a single civilian in sight. They were smart enough to have already left the city bounds ages ago.

It was a freaking _war zone_.

"Bah! Not compromised _my ass!" _she said in disbelief as she held the ripped piece of her shirt to her forehead. The man nearly strangled her until she admitted _that_ one.

And it is very difficult to get Natasha Romanoff to admit _anything_.

She wouldn't even admit to stealing his _damn cookies every day!_ The woman was batshit insane – but apparently he liked them crazy.

"I don't mind being _that_ type of compromised Tasha," he said honestly. Her face heated up so fast she felt like Steve Rogers being propositioned by a male prostitute for the first time. He wasn't laughing then either.

"Are you blushing yet?" he asked as he started weaving through building after building – he still hadn't lost his tail. Damn he was getting tired of running – but he couldn't turn around until he was sure Natasha had gotten out of the warehouse.

"NO!" she denied immediately.

"Liar," he said with a smile. Sometimes Natasha Romanoff was just like any other girl. You just had to speak her language to get the right reactions out of her.

"Tell me you got out Tasha," he said as he noticed a dead end ahead him. Guess it was going up from here he thought as he glanced at a fire escape to his left.

"I'm out and heading east from the warehouse – where are you taking them Barton?" she said and she quickly made her way down a dark alley. She had no idea where he went.

"Give me _one_ second Tasha…" he said as he slowly stuffed the phone in his pocket and jumped up to drag down the ladder leading up to the metal staircase.

"Uh oh," he said as 2 men rounded the corner and stared at the archer hanging from the metal ladder. There was an awkward moment as Clint slowly let go of one arm and slide a gun out of his sleeve. At least now he was armed too.

"Why hello there mindless goons. I'd love to stay and kick your ass but sadly I have a date with a beautiful assassin who is apparently infatuated with me at the moment," Clint said with a dramatic sigh.

"INFATUATED WITH WHAT?" Natasha shrieked from his phone. He grinned.

"Oh yeah? Where is your bitch anyway SHIELD scum?" the tallest man said with a disgusting snort. Clint narrowed his eyes as he had his gun pointed at the man's heart. Well that took the fun out of his day. This slime ball wasn't worth his bullets.

He promptly dropped the gun, swung his arm back and bashed his fist into the man's face.

_CRACK_!

"Did you just break the bastard's jaw for no reason?" Natasha asked in disbelief staring at her phone. He smiled – he was a _bit_ too satisfied with that hit.

"No it was definitely not for no reason," he said calmly as he snapped his fingers in front of the hitman standing in shock beside him. Clint shrugged when the man didn't respond and grabbed the gun from his hand and used it to pistol whip him unconscious. It was time to go. Natasha narrowed her eyes.

"Was that you trying to defend my honor?" she asked dangerously. Clint winced as he climbed up to the roof and jogged across the ridges – damage control time.

"You're my partner – it's also defending _my_ honor," he said trying to defuse the oncoming rage. She gaped and nearly crashed into the wall as she listened to this _utter bullshit._

"Are you serious?" she shouted as she ran down another street. The entire district was crawling with these men. Where did they come from anyway?

"Nope, but I had to give it a shot," he said with a shrug as he finally found a low enough roof to jump down from. He noticed the river down the street and ran towards it – it would be easy for Natasha to locate.

"Hey Natasha I'm heading towards the river – can you see it?" he said as he ducked behind a fallen wall as a group of masked men marched down the street. They needed to contact Maria Hill soon and find out exactly what the hell is going.

"Yeah I am just about- Oh my god…get down Barton! get down _now_!" she shouted just as she rounded a corner and saw him running down the street beside the exact same river.

"What? Why?" he asked as he spun around and froze. _Oh…that's why._

"Oh _shit_!" he exclaimed as a freaking torpedo came right at him. He dropped to the floor milliseconds before the missile flew over his head and smashed into the parliament buildings a mile ahead of them. Both master assassins froze as they watched the building go up in flames. These people were serious. Serious _idiots_. If Fury knew this was coming Clint was going to stick an arrow in that man's good eye before Natasha even gets a shot at him.

"Are you kidding me? Where the hell do these idiots get their hands on these things? _They kill people!_" Clint shouted giving the group of snipers in the distance the finger. These people were having their own fucking war.

"That is the point of weapons that go boom Clint…" Natasha said as she ran down the riverbank and towards the bridge ahead of her.

"Where are you Tasha…?" he said as he reached the bridge before her. It separated the downtown area under attack from the neighborhoods filled with children. They were _screwed_.

Clint spun around and stared at the mass number of jeeps heading his way. Oh my god the _backup_ had arrived.

At least he was considered a big enough threat to necessitate that much man power. It tickled his pride a bit too much.

They both held their breath as they stared at each other from opposite ends of the bridge. But they couldn't reunite just yet.

"The orphanage is on this side of the river Clint..." she said worriedly glancing behind her and at all the little faces peering out of the old rundown buildings. There was _no way_ she could protect them all if the deadly mob made their way across the river. They couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen.

"I know I've got that covered," he said staring at the bow in his hand and up at the several broken cars sitting in the center of the bridge. He had to make a choice.

"Tasha...do you love me?" he asked slowly. She froze.

"I-I-" she couldn't find the right words. She can't _believe_ he just asked her like that.

"No time for regrets Tasha," he said as he watched the gunmen start getting out of their jeeps behind him through the broken car mirror lying on floor.

"Yes, yes I do," she whispered finally. He sighed in relief.

"Good. Now run," he said locking eyes with her from across the bridge. He aimed his arrow at the smoking car in the center of the bridge and let it fly smoothly through the ash filled air.

They both sprinted off in opposite directions just as an explosion took out the bridge and momentarily separated the best partnership SHIELD has ever seen. A little fire wasn't going to destroy Hawkeye and the Black Widow though. Especially not Natasha Romanoff – she was born from fire.

No one ever signs up to be a hero. But sometimes it's your actions opposed to your reputation that end up making you one.

**A/N: To be continued…ah…if you like it. Review and let me know: Do you still believe in heroes? **

**(Inspired by Coulson's line in my other Clintasha story Lost in the Seas of Forgotten Memories - update coming soon)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Do you still believe in heroes? **

**A/N: Wow…that…was the **_**biggest**_** response I ever got for a story! I shall continue! **

**Enjoy.**

**Chapter 2 **

While Natasha and Clint were in the middle of their mission in Budapest…something very different was happening back in Manhattan.

"BRUCE I KNOW WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO TODAY!" Tony shouted as he ran down the stairs and burst into their joint lab.

"Stop acting like Phineas and Ferb!" Bruce shouted back angrily. He was fed up with his lab partner's antics. He was not a green haired little b-…oh dear god the irony just hit him. His eyes narrowed.

"But you're such a _cute_ little Ferb!" Tony exclaimed seeing the green in Bruce's eyes. _Yes_! New record – 10 seconds to get Bruce a little green.

"SHUT UP!" Bruce said going bright red. _Aww_. The green was gone.

"Don't tell me you don't like being ninja engineers!" Tony shouted pointing an accusing finger at the scientist.

Bruce paled.

The saddest part was that it was _true_. Sometimes…when Bruce and Tony weren't working on a real project…they would try to recreate a contraption from that show. Bruce never wants anyone to see those diabolical machines…_ever_.

"Tony…get to the point," Bruce said warningly.

Tony gasped.

"You deny our ninja engineer's love?" Tony exclaimed in shock. Bruce smacked himself in the face with his palm.

"Where is Pepper when you need her?" Bruce muttered rubbing his forehead. He could feel a headache coming along nicely. He could only handle her boyfriend for so long.

RING! RING!

They both froze as they heard a distinct ringtone play from the back of the room.

"Tony is that our SHIELD phone…?" Bruce asked slowly. Tony frantically shook his head. Those bastards haven't called him since the last time a villain tried to assassinate the statue of liberty. Seriously? How was that _his_ problem? The villain just had a gigantic disintegrating gun to do it with. Big deal.

"Let's pretend it's not there…" Tony whispered inching towards the ringing device with a garbage can in his hand. He had _plans_ for that damn phone. Big plans.

"Tony…" Bruce said warningly. Tony gave him the puppy dog eyes. Bruce snorted. As if he was going to fall for something as _pathetic_ as that!

"Tony Stark you better not…" Bruce said narrowing his eyes. Tony sighed and dropped the can and watched it roll under the table.

"Fine! I will answer to the damn annoying phone! But mark my words I will hang up immediately if it's another stupid villain they can deal with themselves!" Tony said warningly. Bruce sighed. Tony was such a _liar_. He would go stop a villain even if it was just a masked felon raiding a _candy_ store.

The difference between heroes like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark was very simple. There was no difference in their heroic _actions_. The only difference was how they portrayed their _intentions_. Steve would stop the masked felon because his moral compass said that it was wrong to steal – anything. Period. Tony would stop him because he apparently bought candy from that store and that it was justice that you must pay for the delicious chocolate if Tony Stark had too.

The man had such an odd way of serving justice.

"Alright ya lousy SHIELD monkeys! What do you want _this_ time?" Tony demanded. Bruce banged his head against the table in front of him. Next time _he_ was answering the phone.

"_That's_ how you answer your calls from SHIELD?" Clint shouted in disbelief from the other end of the line.

Tony and Bruce both tensed.

They haven't heard a peep from agent Barton or agent Romanoff in a _long_ time.

"It's been a while Barton...for a second we thought you and Red might have been dead…" Tony said slowly turning towards his best friend. They shared a wary look.

"Yeah…well we thought you'd probably be dead too after all those explosions that go off in your lab every single god damn day – but apparently here we all are," Clint shot back as he loaded the gun in his hand with his last round. It was arrows alone after this one.

"Your sarcasm has gotten drier Barton…or you are just losing your touch," Tony said warily. Clint took a deep breath as he listening to several jeeps zooming by behind him. He waited until they were all gone before he dared to respond to Tony's remark.

"Barton…?" Tony asked uneasily. Why wasn't he answering?

"Where are Banner and Rogers Stark?" Clint asked suddenly. Tony paused.

"Banner is here with me – Rogers is off saving the world one kitten at a time somewhere in the city…why?" Tony asked slowly.

"How fast is your fastest jet?" Clint asked cautiously.

"Where exactly are you calling from Barton…?" Tony asked slowly. He didn't like how cryptic the archer was sounding.

"Turn on your TV Stark," Clint said crouching down behind an overturned bus. He needed to find a place good enough to hide in and figure out what the hell is happening. But first he needed to make sure of something. He had a really bad feeling he wanted to confirm.

"There are no channels…the cable is out," Tony said slowly. Okay _now_ he was getting suspicious. He heard Clint curse on the other end.

"How about the internet?" he asked quickly. Tony froze as he checked his computer. All the severs were down. And he meant _all_ of them.

"Holy shit…what the _hell_ is going on Barton?" Tony asked in disbelief. Clint froze as he stared down at a blinking red light he was standing on top of. Oh my god…

"Oh shit!" he shouted before he sprinted down the street and dived behind another fallen wall.

_BOOM_!

An entire 20 feet of the street behind him exploded and caved into the ground. Clint fell to his knees and covered his head as the debris flew over him. His phone had skidded to the side and lay 2 feet away from him.

"Barton? Barton? CLINT DAMN IT! What happened?" Tony asked angrily. Clint coughed as he rolled over and picked up his phone.

"I'm fine! I'm fine! Try your normal phone – does it work?" Clint asked hastily. Damn it. Shit was getting serious.

"I have this strange feeling it _won't_…" Tony said cautiously trying to dial Pepper's number on his personal cell. "…and what do you know - it doesn't go through. Okay Barton. You have officially freaked us out – now talk," Tony said staring at the failed call screen with Pepper's picture behind it. _Well_ _shit_.

"I have no idea what is going on Stark. No idea. No one is picking up their god damn communicators at SHIELD and you were the only other number I had on this phone," Clint said steadily. Tony gaped at the phone in his hand. _What_? Where the hell was everyone?

"Is Natasha with him?" Bruce asked quietly beside him. Tony tensed. That was a _very_ good question.

"Where is Romanoff Barton?" Tony asked suddenly. Clint clenched the hand that held his gun.

"I don't know…" he said through gritted teeth. Okay it was time to move Tony thought.

"Where are you Barton…?" Tony said getting up and motioning for Bruce to start exiting the lab. They had Avengers to find. Bruce grabbed the car keys and sprinted after Tony.

"_Budapest_," Clint said darkly. He _hated_ Budapest. He was never stepping foot in this city ever again. Never. Not even if Fury threatened to fire him. He would die before he came back.

"Can you stay alive for 3 hours?" Tony asked slowly. That's how long his jet would take. Nothing could make that go faster.

"I'll have to. I'll find Natasha in the meantime," Clint said firmly.

"Don't die before we get there Barton," Tony said as he quickly jotted down a cryptic message for Pepper and stuck it on the fridge with a magnet that had a picture of all the Avengers on it. She would understand.

"I have a feeling you will have a harder time getting in here alive…then me staying alive," Clint said forebodingly before he hung up.

"Tony…how are we going to find Steve?" Bruce asked worriedly. Tony stuff the SHIELD phone in his pocket and looked up at anxious eyes of his best friend.

"Easy Bruce. We blow something up – he'll come _right_ over to kick my ass," Tony said rummaging through his draws for some explosives.

Bruce banged his head against the wall.

Tony Stark was a genius. BUT HE WAS BAT SHIT INSANE TOO!

"Oh! I know just what to use! It's in my garage!" Tony exclaimed as he dropped what was doing and dashed over to his front door.

Tony opened his front door and instantly smacked face first into the solid frame of a familiar soldier.

"My _nose_!" Tony shouted in pain. It was like hitting a titanium wall!

"Why did all communication technology in the city stop working 20 minutes ago?" Steve asked staring down at the genius rubbing his bruised nose.

"Hello to you too Captain obvious," Tony muttered. Well…now he didn't need those explosives anymore. Pity. He always did like blowing things up.

"What's going on Stark?" Steve asked seriously.

"Why would you think I knew what was going on Rogers? Why did you come here first?" Tony asked suspiciously. Steve sighed – you seriously insult a genius once and he'll never let it go.

"My SHIELD assigned partner just tried to kill me," Steve said frankly as he stepped to the side and revealed a gagged, bounded and unconscious SHIELD agent behind him. Tony stared at Steve's handy work and his shoulders dropped. Can't fault the man for having common sense.

"Alright welcome to team Avengers - we have a new mission today," Tony said opening the door and allowing Steve to drag and deposit his two timing partner into a corner.

"Where are we going and why?" Steve asked steadily.

"Captain…have you ever been to …_Budapest_?" Tony asked mysteriously. Steve stared at the overdramatic man with a blank look on his face.

"I _really_ hate it when you talk like that," Steve grumbled.

"Don't we all," Bruce muttered as he stared at his jumbled phone. This was just too suspicious.

Something was up in Budapest.

"It's a rescue mission – Barton and Romanoff are in trouble. The least we can do is bail them out," Tony said clapping the Captain on the back. He forgot the Captain wasn't really a soft guy to smack around.

"My hand!" Tony cried in pain as he jumped around trying to shake off the burn.

Steve and Bruce shared a painful look. They just didn't know how to deal with him anymore.

**heroes heroes heroes heroes heroes heroes heroes heroes heroes heroes **

Clint finally found a relatively stable building and leaned against the wall as he sat beneath a broken window trying to catch his breath after 10 minutes of continuous running. He stared at him phone – Tony _actually_ picked up. He was amazed. The pain in his ass was actually coming. Who would've guessed?

He'd give him a big fat brother hug if he actually made it here in one piece. Unlikely but he could still hope.

In the meantime…he flipped open his phone and dialed the number of the one person he knew would pick up.

_Ring. Ring. _

_Click. _

"I'm _still_ alive Clint," was the first thing she said. He sighed in relief. Her dry tone was music to his ears.

"I didn't ask yet Tasha," he said with a weak smile as he leaned his head back against the wall. If he continued to just listen to her voice he could ignore the fact that they were miles apart and right smack in the middle of the most dangerous spot in the world at the moment.

Right now it was just Clint and Natasha.

"After 10 years I think I know you well enough to know what you'll say before you say it," Natasha said dryly as she walked through the extremely quiet ghost streets of the Budapest suburbs. No one was crazy enough to come outside at the moment. If they were smart enough – they would be fleeing the city boundaries while they still had the chance.

If they were SHIELD agents they would be walking into the line of fire.

"How is your head Tasha?" Clint asked suddenly. Natasha paused as she gently felt around her newly acquired facial feature.

"It's healing. Though I don't know about infection yet," she said cautiously. It didn't matter very much at the moment. Clint sighed in relief.

"Thank you for not lying Tasha," he said gratefully.

"I don't _always_ lie," she grumbled. He smiled – she was cute in her own badass way.

"Did you try calling Hill or Fury yet?" he asked changing the subject for her. She snorted.

"Those two? They are probably _drowning_ in calls at the moment. A line doesn't even go _through_ to them," she said shaking her head. He sighed.

"Me neither. I got Stark though," he said slowly. She stopped walking.

"What do you mean you got Stark…?" she asked slowly.

"He's coming – with Banner and Rogers," he explained. She tensed.

"We haven't seen them in 2 years Clint. Why would they come?" she asked suspiciously. Clint rolled his eyes. Natasha Romanoff was always suspicious of _everyone_. Sometimes he wondered how she could trust him with her life when she's always so distant with everyone else. Sometimes he wondered how he was lucky enough to be her partner.

"Because we never really left the team Tasha," he said with a weak smile. She wasn't as convinced.

"How do you know they'll make it in in time?" she asked cautiously. He paused – he's been asking that question himself.

"I don't know Tasha. If he can't make it in we're on our own. But it's nice to know at least someone is looking for us isn't it?" he asked quietly. She sighed – she'd have to give him that one. She felt like she could be lost in this mess for weeks.

"Yeah…Clint what did Fury say exactly we were supposed to do after we defused all the bombs on the east side of the city?" she asked suddenly.

"He said report back to him – whether it was a success or not," Clint replied steadily. Natasha leaned against a cold wall and slowly processed that information.

"Something is wrong on SHIELD's end," she said with conviction. Clint stared at his phone warily.

"We can't be sure of anything right now Natasha," he said quietly. She stared at the ground with a contemplative look on her face.

"How many groups of fighting sides are we dealing with here Clint?" she asked suddenly. He thought back to all the gun men he saw. They were usually all from the same side unless he was running through the center of town. That was where are the real shit was going down.

This meant eventually he would have to go find out exactly what was going on there.

But he wasn't going to tell _her_ that.

"At least two Tasha," he said steadily.

"Do we know what their fighting over?" she asked. That he did not know.

"Not _yet_…" he answered as he looked out the window. The streets were still crawling with unknown soldiers.

"Barton…tell me you're not going to risk your life to try and figure out what's happening…" she said narrowing her eyes. He winced. Damn she was good.

"I promise not to die?" he tried feebly. Her eyes darkened.

"You're shit at keeping promises," she said point blank. He gaped. He was so _insulted_!

"Hey! I promised to take you dancing for your birthday! _That_ happened!" he said defensively. She banged her head against the wall beside her.

"That happened in the rain after your _car_ blew up!" she said angrily. He flushed – that wasn't his fault. That was _Steve's_ fault! And his stupid potato launcher he had stashed in _his_ car! Why did he need to learn how to use a potato launcher?

Stupid Stark and his egging the damn Captain with the fact that he didn't understand 21st century technology.

"You still haven't given me a straight answer. Don't go in there alone Barton," she said going back to being serious.

"Tasha-" he started to say.

Suddenly they both froze as they heard a large bang in the distance that echoed across the city followed by a gigantic wave of hot air.

"Oh…my…_god_…." Clint whispered as he stared out at the insanity that was happening right before his very eyes.

"Clint…are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Natasha asked slowly as she backed away from the water.

"Are you seeing a gigantic circle of fire starting to surround the downtown region?" he asked in utter shock.

"You need to get out Clint," she said hurriedly glancing around to see if anyone was still following her. She doubted it. Everything was happening on the other side of the fire.

"But we can't leave Natasha. Whatever they're trying to do – it's happening in here. I need to stay and figure it out," he said shaking his head. He couldn't leave if he was the only one on the inside. She stared at the fire with a hundred thoughts running through her mind.

"Then I'm coming in," she said making up her mind. Clint froze. _Oh no she wasn't._

"Don't cross the fire Natasha. It's not worth getting caught," Clint said warningly as he stared at the large flames that were spreading in opposite directions merge into two right in front of him. Now he was official stuck. They were either trying to contain something…or keep the rest of the world out for a certain amount of time. He was betting his best bow on the latter. All communications was cut off around the world. The chaos erupting in Budapest was relatively unknown at the moment.

The world didn't know what was happening here.

"I don't have to go _through_ the fire to get to the other side," Natasha said firmly. Clint paused.

"Natasha…" he said warningly.

"You'd do the same thing Barton," she said slowly walking by the river that ran along one side of the city. She could even feel the heat of the flames from 50 meters away. No – there was no way through the flames. But that wasn't the only way into the inner city.

"Natasha listen to me- BEEP," Clint started to say but then froze.

She had already hung up on him.

"Shit!" Clint swore as he shut his phone and shoved it into his pocket. There was no point in reasoning with Natasha Romanoff.

She did what she wanted and if that meant screwing her partner's heart over then so be it.

"That _idiot_," Clint muttered. She was so damn stubborn – but he couldn't live without her.

**A/N: And now the Avengers are about to reassemble. Sorry there is no way to contact Thor at the moment since he is still in Asgard. Don't worry we'll see him eventually. **

**What on Earth is going on? **

**Review and let me know if you want to know! **


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